Boston International Film Festival shows its diversity

On opening night of the Boston International Film Festival, attendees will visit an abandoned village in Turkey and watch a comic tale of love across two cultures enfold in “Ay Lav Yu.”On closing night, they’ll meet a young schoolteacher in Bosnia whose life takes a stark turn when a soldier tells her to pack her things in “As If I’m Not There.”

“The international spirit of the festival blends topic and filmmaker origin,” says the festival’s director, Patrick Jerome. “We try to get as many movies that were made overseas as possible, but at the same time there are so many filmmakers living in the U.S. who are from a foreign country trying to make it in this business.”

The fest is comprised of nearly 100 shorts, features, and documentaries, representing 30 countries, which a panel of 35 judges selected from 2,641 submissions, according to Jerome.

“We do our best to keep the festival truly for unknown filmmakers,” says Jerome. “A good 70 to 80 percent of the filmmakers represented are truly independent.”

The panel judged films based on criteria including subject, artistic outcome and director’s style.

“Ultimately, a good film speaks to everybody. If a movie plays with your emotions — makes you laugh or cry or feel scared — then it succeeds,” says Jerome.